CENTURY CHILD

I never considered Nightwish prog, and I probably never will. I also can't admit that their operatic metal style really impressed me all too much. However, I was drawn into the band by the beautiful vocals of Tarja and became a moderate fan. However, excluding the impressive closing effort, "Beauty Of The Beast," the Nightwish style is diluted on Century Child in favor of a more commercial, aggressive metal approach. Many of the operatic elements are downplayed and the keyboards get pushed into a backing role.

This is the heaviest Nightwish album I've run across and the most Metallica-esque. The album consists of a mix of heavy songs with chugging guitars and sing-a-long choruses and softer ballads that are pretty bland. Then the album closes with a fantastic 10 min epic melding all the trademarks of Nightwish beautifully together. The closer is the only reason that I ever put this album on for a spin. Even so while I adore the closing track I would not call it prog. I see little interest in this album even for Nightwish fans and much less for people looking for some solid prog-metal.